“It’s a bit unfair, having your father use an advantage like that,” I said, and Sabien blushed while Bair smirked. It was so much like Benedict’s I almost laughed.
“D’Arcy has always been that way. Ignore him; I usually do.” Bair offered me the breadbasket, and I gratefully took a roll, groaning as I bit into its warmth.
“You made an impressive comeback, though it shouldn’t have been necessary to begin with.” I shot Bair a glare, but he laughed it off.
“Anything to get to you,” he leered, and I frowned. Sabien leaned forward.
“Is it true then? Has Benedict claimed a human, and given up on finding the lost daughter?”
I paused, my mouth full of bread. I swallowed carefully, keeping my face blank so I wouldn’t blush. It was still odd to me how brazenly drakens spoke of love and...other things.
“I don’t see why it’s any of your business.”
Bair’s eyes darkened, even as Sabien kicked him under the table. “It’s our business if he took the Overlord’s bloody deal, and sentenced us to an eternity under this—"
“Bair! Not here!” Worry broke out on Sabien’s face, but Bair shoved him off.
“Everyone should know, shouldn’t they? Isn’t it the right of the people to know why they’re imprisoned and what keeps them here?” He turned to me, nonchalantly spearing a hunk of meat on the end of his dagger and tearing into it with his teeth. He waved the dagger at me as he chewed.
“What do you think? Surely you have an opinion, stuck here with us.”
What did I think? Well, that was a quandary. When was the last time anyone had even bothered to ask my opinion on anything? It was novel, really. I looked up at him, noticing the keen interest in his face. I felt myself warming up to him.
“I... I think the others should know,” I managed.
“AH HA!” Bair shouted, even as Sabien hissed at him. Bair lowered his voice, but his face was triumphant. “I knew you wouldn’t let him walk all over you, the way everyone else lets him. I heard—” he lowered his voice at a pointed glare from Sabien. “I heard he has made a deal with the Demon Overlord, a deal to keep us trapped here.”
He speared another piece of meat, his eyes trained expectantly on me. He leaned in closer, and I couldn’t help but notice how he smelled of cedarwood and sage. I busied myself by taking another piece of bread, breaking it into smaller pieces.
“I don’t know anything about a deal,” I admitted, remembering the despondent look in Benedict’s eyes when he said the last female was lost to him. Bair’s gaze sharpened, reevaluating every inch of me. I didn’t like it, yet at the same time...I wondered if he would kiss like his brother.
“Allow me to lie with you tonight, and I’ll tell you everything you want to know about Benedict.”
I blinked at him. It wasn’t the deal itself that was offensive, but the self-assured way he had proposed it, as if my agreement were already assumed. I narrowed my eyes.
“I hardly need your help.”
Bair raised an eyebrow, and it was eerily reminiscent of his brother. What Bair lacked in Benedict’s strength and figure, he made up for with subterfuge and flattery. I wasn’t sure that I preferred it. Bair lowered his voice further, whispering gently into my ear so Sabien wouldn’t hear.
“Choose me and I’ll take you outside the mountain.”
I popped the last bit of bread into my mouth, grabbing a few grapes and rolling them between my fingers anxiously.
“I thought you’re all trapped here.”
Bair set down his dagger and wiped his mouth. “Think of it more as a... loophole.”
“Won’t Benedict find out?”
Bair grinned nastily. “He can’t be everywhere at once.”
I threw down my napkin, quite done with both of them.
“Thank you for dinner, but I have some business which requires immediate attention.”
Bair stood; his hands splayed on the table as Sabien bowed.
“What about my offer?”
I growled.
“Fine. I’ll think about it.” Bair gave me a salute with his dagger, grinning widely. Sabien shook his head and turned his attention back to his meal. I stalked back up the dais, where Benedict was leaning against the wall, half of his body in the shadows. Did he ever eat, himself? His hobbies seemed to be primarily composed of stalking and creeping.
I only made it halfway before a group of three drakens stepped in my path, bowing. I impatiently nodded my head, but the look in their eyes was serious.
“May we have a moment of your time?”
His scales were navy blue, while the rest of him was silver: his eyes, his hair, his wings and upper body.
“I apologize, but perhaps tomorrow before the Games? I have some urgent business with Benedict.” The draken nodded, and the three of them stepped out of my path. I hurried over to Benedict, who didn’t bother glancing up at me.
“I would like to go see them now, please.”
Benedict’s eyes flashed.
“I’m not your servant.”
I put the back of my hand dramatically to my forehead.
“I suppose I’ll have to wander the fortress aimlessly then, hoping to bump into them. I hope I don’t run into any bloodthirsty, hormonally-deprived drakens on the way.”
A puff of air exhaled from his nose.
“Fine. You’re like an annoying, little pet.”
I could have winced, knowing his joke was in particularly bad taste. Demons frequently kept humans as pets. Instead, I tried something different.
“Careful, I might bite.”
I grinned in victory, turning quickly so my hair flew in his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off from over my shoulder. “And you may stay and watch if you’re so concerned about my safety.”
I held my hand out imperiously, and he reluctantly took it, his warm fingers sliding up the palm of my hand.
TEN
We appeared in a dimly lit sitting room, like mine but smaller, decorated sparsely but comfortably with two leather backed chairs in front of a happily crackling fire. Kieran and Ronan jumped
